Laki 1783 Lava Advance

During the 1783 Laki fissure eruption, lava erupted from multiple vents and flowed towards the southern coast of Iceland.

The total area covered by the flows was 599 km² with a total magma volume of 14.7 km³. Advance of the lava flows occurred in surges during the summer of 1783.

Observations of the location of lava flow fronts at various times allow for a reconstruction of the pace of lava flow advance as they moved towards the coast.

In this part of the exercise you will make these observations and use them to calculate the speed of the lava flows.

Calculating Lava Flow Advance

Push the button below to launch an interactive map that will let you measure the distance traveled by the Laki lava flows over different time periods.

When you have made your measurements and answered the questions in your field notebook for Task 6, you are ready to proceed to the next step.